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Restaurant Review- Sunset Grill and Tap
2008-01-21 08:35:00
I wrote the following restaurant review for a graduate class last semester and am posting it here for all Bostonian readers looking for a fabulous, casual spot to go for good food and beer...well, mostly beer. Because, trust me, Sunset Grill has A LOT of beer. Photo from Planet99.comSunset Grill and TapThe Sunset Grill and Tap has 112 beers on tap daily and almost 400 bottled varieties. If you?re not a beer lover, this probably isn?t the place for you, right? Wrong. With over 500 beers available, even the biggest beer loathers will likely be able to find a few to suit their tastes. I have several friends who absolutely refuse to drink beer. And really, who can blame them when they went through four years of college surrounded by Keystone Light and Natty Ice? But many of them have a desperate desire to like beer. Let?s face it: guys like a girl who can down a few brews while enjoying some Sunday football. OK, it can?t help you with the football part, but I can assure you, Sunset Gril...
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Bacon-Wrapped Eggs with Polenta
2008-01-20 01:18:00
I knew the second I saw this recipe for Bacon -Wrapped Eggs with Polenta on bonapptetit.com I haaaaad to make it. It legitimately is made up of three of my favorite things: bacon (duh), eggs, and polenta. Off to the grocery store I went. And ummmm yeah... just as delicious as I thought it would be and beyond simple to make!What a way to get my Saturday night started :)* I got the plate at the Christmas Tree Shop... it's a black and white photo of a French tea shop. Needed it. Got two :)GO PATS!! (sorry... had to.)[Chels]

Take a Look at Eric Piasecki
2008-01-18 04:53:00
When I got last month's issue of Martha Stewart Living in the mail, I was instantly obsessed with the cover:I LOVE that kitchen. And then when I opened the magazine and read the article the cover photo was a part of, I realized I loved every photograph included. I immediately had to know who had taken these photos. I Googled the photographer, Eric Piasecki, and oh my God, his portfolio is amazing. Every single photo I saw, I thought, "I want to live there!" Even rooms that were decorated in a style totally not mine, I wanted to be in them. In my opinion, this is the power of an outstanding photographer.Here are some more examples of his work that I hope you'll like too. But you can't move in, because I already called dibs.I want to curl up on that couch and read one of the books from that pile. Or sit at the desk and just inhale the scent of the beautiful flowers:Photo from EricPiasecki.com This room makes me happy. It looks so bright and peaceful and like the perfect place to sp...

Nightstand Redo
2008-01-18 01:55:00
I saw this nightstand (or excuse me... "bedside table" as they're called these days) on potterybarn.com. It inspired me fiddle around with mine... PB's: Mine: Instead of putting a basket or more books above the drawers I used a cigar box as storage. A lot of cigar shops will sell or put empty cigar boxes in front of the store for people to take... which I think is a great alternative to other storage systems (not to mention super creative). ::Side note:: Check out the cover of February's Bon Appetit: Whole Grain Pancakes with Wild Blueberry Maple Syrup. Thinking about making this for breakfast this weekend... stay tuned :) yay fun. [Chels]
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You Might Need This: Tassimo
2008-01-17 05:15:00
This beautiful contraption is basically my life savior:Friends, I introduce to you, Tassimo. Thank heavens some smart person invented this. See, I have issues making my own coffee. For some reason, no matter how carefully I try to measure the coffee grounds and water, it NEVER tastes how I want it to. And I never know how much coffee I'm going to want until I start drinking it. Furthermore, coffee grounds don't last long enough and allegedly keeping them in the freezer does not make them last longer and is actually bad for the coffee (who knew? I've been doing this since college).Tassimo solves ALL these problems. If you enjoy a cup o' joe in the morning, but hate the way it tastes when you make it, you probably need this, too.It makes one serving of coffee. You just put this little T-disc in and coffee is made in one minute flat; you can then adjust it to the strength you desire: I am showing you an image of a Maxwell House T-Disc because those are the T-Discs I can afford at t...

A Few of My Favorite Things...
2008-01-17 00:21:00
I never used to get super excited about bath and body products for some strange reason. I'd buy tons of "different" shower gels but would never use them...the basic simple stuff would do. But for my birthday last August one of my friends (Nina... shout out!), bought me body scrubs and soap from The Body Shop. I figured "what the heck". Needless to say... it was gone in about a week flat and I am in love. So much in love that I ended up buying an entire gift set... for myself. :) So much in love that I buy individual Almond Body Butters for my desk at work so I'm never without it. The Almond Body Scrub is perfect. It makes your skin so smooth... kind of like if you rub sand on your arms and legs at the beach... (because yes, I do this when I'm at the beach!)I'm also in love with "Buffy the Backside Slayer" from LUSH. It's another product that leaves your skin beachy soft! (It makes your shower kind of slippery though... so... hold on tight... it's worth it!)All this talk about ...
More About: Things , Favorite , My Favorite Things

Sweet Potato Fries
2008-01-16 06:27:00
As you'll probably soon learn, I have an obsession with orange vegetables. You're lucky this website didn't start during pumpkin season because I went absolutely pumpkin crazy. Pretty much everything I made and ate involved pumpkin of some sort. But since the holidays are over, I have to resort to other various orange vegetables. Last week was the squash soup, tonight was sweet potato fries. I recently got a mandoline and was very excited to put it to use for my fries. Of course, if you don't have a mandoline, you can simply cut your vegetables the old-fashioned way (also known as with a knife), but mandolines are fun to use and make everything easier. They are very sharp and dangerous though, so be careful! I have the OXO Good Grips Mandoline,like this one:I took 2 sweet potatoes and using the "french fry" blade on my mandoline, sliced the potatoes into thin little french fries. Then I put them in a bowl and mixed them with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepp...
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Martha at Macy's
2008-01-15 06:17:00
Martha Stewart at Macy's - Nikki Kahn/Washington PostThis picture of Martha's line at Macy's just makes me happy. I'm pretty much a marketer's dream and will purchase things if you make them in pretty colors and put Martha's name on them.But when I saw this, I wasn't quite sure who would buy it:Until I saw that it made this:How adorable?? Penguins are so in right now, with both kids and adults, and this cake would be so much fun for any occasion. The mold is on sale right now at Macy's for $8.22. It was previously $29.99, so I would get it while it lasts! Of course, you can make Martha's ice cream igloo cake without the mold, but it looks really complicated and a bit difficult. No matter what, you'll want to make the marzipan penguins; they're so cute! [Sues]
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Seeing circles....
2008-01-15 05:35:00
Okay, clearly I'm a sucker for good design, earth tones, and all things temporary. Well documented. I found these circle wall applications on relish.com. I love them (and the entire site)... and how they can be easily removed and rearranged. I hate the feeling of being "stuck" with one thing especially when it comes to decorating.ahhh, fun![Chels]

You Should Read It: Cook's Illustrated
2008-01-14 04:52:00
I am a magazine fanatic and basically read anything I can get my hands on. But I especially love cooking magazines. Between the recipes, photography, and advice, I think they are an extremely valuable source of information, and would even describe some as pieces of art. And of all the cooking magazines out there (and believe me, there are A LOT!), one of my all-time favorites is Cook's Illustrated.This magazine is filled with all the best recipes. How do we know they're the best? Well, as Cook's Illustrated claims, they "test each recipe 30, 40, sometimes as many as 70 times, until we arrive at the combination of ingredients, technique, temperature, cooking time, and equipment that yields the best, most-foolproof recipe." The magazine explains why the recipes are the best and how they came to their conclusions. Its pages are black-and-white, but there are no advertisements. Usually, I think "black-and-white, ew," but the content in Cook's Illustrated is so awesome, you don't ev...
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Pillow Fight
2008-01-14 01:04:00
Ever since I moved into my Boston apartment and purchased all new furniture I've been trying to find new throw pillows for my sofas. The couches came with "free" pillows that were seriously the ugliest things I've ever seen in my life. Love the couches... not so much the pillows. I always keep my eyes open for new ones but I am constantly changing my mind, can't commit, and never feel like spending tons of money on something I know I'll want to change when I find something even better (wow, it sounds like I need therapy... hmm). So when I stumbled across Toronto based Tonic Living and saw their wide selection of retro print throw pillows for incredibly reasonable prices, I got a little excited and immediately started searching for pillows that would match my sage"ish" colored sofas. [They're also stuffed with hypoallergenic synthetic fibers which is key for me!] My favorites so far:They also have a greaaaat selection of fabrics, if you wanted to go all out and make your own pil...
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I Want Hi-Hat Cupcakes
2008-01-13 03:42:00
The next time I make cupcakes, i want it to be these. They look A LOT more complicated than a typical cupcake. And you need a pastry bag, which I do not have. Clearly, I am not Martha at all. But I will find a way. And an event for which to bake them. I need to stop myself from making them just for fun; it's really not good to always have cupcakes just lying around. But they look oh, so pretty. And tasty, too.[Sues]

Butternut Squash Soup
2008-01-11 06:13:00
I got this fun new Cuisinart blender for Christmas:And while I've been obsessed with making smoothies lately, I wanted to see what else I could do with it. I also got a subscription to Everyday Food magazine for Christmas: So, I decided to put the two together, took a recipe in this month's issue, and made butternut squash soup. I've never made soup by myself, so I was a bit apprehensive. But if you have a blender, this recipe is amazingly simple.Buy the squash from your grocery store that's already halved with no skin or seeds and just chop it up into little cubes. Trader Joe's even sells it already cut! But you'll need about 3 pounds. Boil it and an onion in chicken broth and water for about 20 minutes and then puree it in your blender. And that's pretty much it. It made a ridiculous amount of soup, so I put a bunch in the freezer for later this winter when I'm too cold and miserable to cook or to leave my apartment for food. I made a really healthy version (this month's ...
More About: Soup , Squash

MY spice!
2008-01-11 04:16:00
I love bacon. Probably wayyyy more than I should and I always seem to figure out a way to add bacon to everything I make. Last spring, Sues' parents invited a bunch of the girls over for brunch. There was obviously tons of great food, but most importantly...there was bacon. The most delicious, perfect, tasty bacon I have ever had in my life. The reason you ask? Sues' dad knows what's up... he uses Fenugreek on bacon. I had never heard of Fenugreek before and had a difficult time finding it in stores, but this past Christmas Sues' dad got me Fenugreek (along with some great black pepper too!). I immediately cooked up some bacon, and needless to say, I will never, ever, ever cook bacon without using Fenugreek. It is a "lesser known spice from the pea family" often found in Indian dishes. It has a sort of maple flavor. My Fenugreek is from Penzys Spice s and I suggest every kitchen have a jar! It is perfect![Chels]

Shutter Bulletin Board
2008-01-11 01:17:00
I think this is the cutest idea ever. So much better than an ordinary bulletin board. Now if only I had some extra shutters lying around.[Sues]
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"Do Something Creative Everyday" -PaperSource
2008-01-10 05:44:00
One of my favorite stores EVER is Chicago based Paper Source. They have stores spread throughout the country and thankfully four of them are in the Boston area! Lucky for me my office is about five buildings down from a PaperSource, so needless to say, I spend many lunch hours browsing and buying paper and getting some great creative ideas for projects.I particularly love buying their flat sheets of paper and using them to wrap gifts and design envelope liners (they have templates!). The flat sheets come in all sorts of designs, colors, and textures. I'm not too into super girly colors and designs so I like how PaperSource has a great variety and makes it easy to buy paper, whether its for a gift for a girl or a guy! I made this box for a guy friend who was driving cross country. All I did was take a box, wrap it in a flat sheet of paper from PaperSource (it was a US map- how fitting!), and filled the box with "necessities" for a cross country drive (first aid kit, notebook, disp...
More About: Creative

Did someone say cupcakes?
2008-01-09 23:45:00
I am a huge fan of cupcakes. Obsessed you might say. If I could do anything, I would probably want to open my open cupcake shop. Unfortunately, I kind of missed the boat on that one as cupcakes are already all the rage and shops have already been opening everywhere within the last couple years. And even though I live a two-minute walk away from the best cupcakes in Boston and surrounding areas (Party Favors), I still bake them whenever I get the chance. I use a combination of recipes and tweak them a little bit each time, but I mainly stick to the Magnolia Bakery's cupcake and butter cream frosting recipes. The best, in my opinion.I think family and friends got the memo that I am cupcake crazy as these were some of the gifts I got for Christmas this year:A cupcake dessert stand, so I can properly display my finished product.And Crate and Barrel's cupcake carrier, so I can travel with my cupcakes. This really excites me as I never have a way of transporting my cupcakes to parties a...

Want it: KitchenAid Stand Mixer
2008-01-09 04:51:00
I really really want a KitchenAid Stand Mixer . I used to be completely bored with kitchen appliances, but once I started baking, I realized how much easier a KitchenAid would make my life. Cupcakes would be amazingly simple. Cakes, a breeze. And it's sooo pretty! I'm extremely jealous of anyone who has one of these mixers and often dream of getting engaged JUST so I can put this on my registry (that's only kind of a joke). But, since I have less than ample counter space in my apartment kitchen and I'm not very close to marriage at the moment, I'll have to be happy with my KitchenAid hand mixer for now. Sigh.*Drool* And yes, I'm aware that pink isn't a very practical color. And I don't care.[Sues]

Wedding Programs, Invitations, Stationary...
2008-01-09 04:25:00
With the warm Boston weather today, it made me think about how quickly this winter will most likely fly and how it will soon be Spring (wishful thinking?). Spring time means lots of weddings (and other events!) so I wanted to share some of my custom stationary design with everyone:(wedding program and greeting card)(monogrammed stationary set for a new bride)Stay tuned for more since doing this is my obsession ;)[Chels]
More About: Programs , Wedding , Stationary

Inside-Out German Chocolate Cake
2008-01-08 07:32:00
I made my own birthday cake this year. Well really, I had about 5 birthday celebrations and just as many cakes, between friends, family, and various celebrations with various people. So when my mom and I had our joint birthday dinner celebration with my dad, I said I'd bring the cake. Because I wanted to try and make this one, courtesy of Martha Stewart herself:(Eeek, falling candle!) It's an inside-out German chocolate cake and was my first attempt at making a cake, ever (not including cakes from a box or cupcakes). And honestly, it was so much easier than I thought it would be. I made it on a Friday night while eating Thai food with friends, sipping on red wine, and getting ready to go out. I actually put the chocolate ganache on the cake at 2 a.m. when I got home from the bar. And I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty good. Deliciously fudgy with coconut-pecan filling; it was more like a brownie than a cake.Here's my version: We couldn't find tall candles so we just threw on some...
More About: Cake , Chocolate , Inside

Want it: The Perfect Studio
2008-01-08 06:30:00
Bedford Modular Desk System from Pottery Barn What a great way to get organized for the new year![Chels]
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It will be a fabulous thing!
2008-01-08 04:43:00
Hi everyone!Thanks for stopping by wearenotmartha.com. We are Chelsee and Susie, two 20-somethings living on our own in Boston. Since we moved here, we have been learning about the finer things in life.We decided to launch this website because, while we love Martha Stewart, we've realized that our generation just can't relate to her. So, we're taking what Martha does and making it a little more accessible and a lot more fun.Watch us as we enjoy the city life, while cooking, dining out, hosting parties for close friends, shopping for the things that make our lives better, and always keeping our eyes open for the most current trends in food, decor, and happenings.We will be updating daily, so be sure to check back often.[Chels and Sues]
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